


Be Who You Are

by Egobang_for_dayz



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Bonding, Brief homophobia, Coming Out, Femininity, Gen, parent grumps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 10:05:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12956916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Egobang_for_dayz/pseuds/Egobang_for_dayz
Summary: Arin teaches his son about being who you are, no matter what.





	Be Who You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Another from the parent grumps AU I've been building with NoMansWindow2846

Arin was in his and Dan's shared office. He was scrolling through his email, checking on various grump related things, when someone knocked on his door. "Yeah?" He called. He was surprised when Fletcher poked his head inside the room. "Oh hey Fletch. Come on in!" He spun around in his chair to face his son. Fletcher stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Fletcher looked nervous, chewing his lip and running his hand through his hair. When he had turned 15 earlier this year he had asked if he could start growing his hair out like Arin's, and of course they supported him. It was already past his chin, jet black just like his sister. 

"Can I ask you something Dad?" He asked, staring at the floor. 

"Yeah of course bud. What's up?" Arin flashed a smile at Fletcher. His hand had left his hair and was now twisting around his other hand. It was incredible the nervous habits he shared with Dan, even if they weren't blood. 

"Can... can boys wear dresses and skirts? I don't want to be a girl. But they look so pretty..." Fletch trailed off a bit, still refusing to meet his father's eyes. Arin was beaming. He stood up. 

"Come with me." He said, gesturing towards the door. They made their way to Arin's room. Arin stepped up to the closet and pulled open the door. He moved the Danny Sexbang costumes over, revealing several sun dresses and a couple of skirts. Fletcher was staring at them confused. 

"Dad who's clothes are these? I mean I know Abba's costumes get pretty crazy but I didn't think he'd wear dresses." Fletcher pulled a couple of them out a little, looking through them. 

"Nope, they're not Abba's. They're mine." Arin said proudly. He was never ashamed of having a feminine side. He was confident enough in his masculinity that he could embrace his femininity. Dan never minded, and it was fun to tease Dan with a particularly short number. Not that he was going to mention that to Fletcher. "You can absolutely wear dresses and skirts and still be a boy. It doesn't mean anything about your gender. Just that you know who you are and what you like." Arin spoke fondly. Fletcher brightened up, his smile returned to his face. 

"Can we go shopping for some?" He asked carefully. Arin nodded quickly. 

"Yeah! Let's go tomorrow since you're off from school." Arin pat his son on the shoulder. 

\---

Arin strolled into his son's room the next morning. He threw the curtains open. "Come on fletch rise and shine! We have shopping to do!" He was so excited to share in something he loved so much with his son. 

"Uncle Arin can you please be quiet?" Tommy groaned from his bed on the other side of the room. Arin rolled his eyes fondly at his nephew. He was definitely Suzy's son; refusing to get up before noon. Arin's own son was sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

"Can I have coffee?" He asked before yawning widely. Arin laughed. 

"No. You can have some of Abba's tea though. Go down and ask him I think he's already making some." Arin responded. 

"Why is he up already?" Fletcher yawned again. "It's too early."

"He's always up early, he's always got work he's gotta get done. Even on the weekends." Arin shrugged. He followed Fletcher downstairs. 

Sure enough, there was Dan, standing in his giants pajama pants and one of Arin's shirts that was far too big for him. He was standing next to the stove; waiting for his water to boil. Arin walked over to him and kissed him good morning. "Hey guys, what are you doing up so early? I expected you both to be asleep until noon at the least." Dan said teasingly, prodding Arin in the side. Arin swatted his hand away. 

"Dad's taking me shopping. Can I have some tea?" Fletcher answered. He slid into one of the bar stools at the island. Dan smiled at him. 

"Of course you can. What are you going shopping for?" Dan turned to pull an extra mug out of the cupboard and another tea bag. When he turned back Fletcher seemed nervous. 

"Just some... stuff." He answered vaguely. 

"You can tell him. I promise he won't care." Arin said gently. Dan looked at his husband confused and then looked back at Fletcher. 

"We're gonna go buy some dresses. And some skirts. For me." Fletcher said quietly. 

"Oh that's great! That should be fun. Your Dad has awesome taste in dresses." Dan leaned over and kissed Arin on the cheek. Fletcher scrunched up his nose. 

"You guys are so gross." He whined. Dan laughed and finished preparing their tea. He handed a cup to Arin and Fletcher before taking his own. He bid them farewell and headed down to the studio to get started on some work. "Why does Abba work so much?" Fletcher asked; watching him head downstairs. 

"He just has a need to always be doing something. We have to force him to relax most of the time." Arin laughed, shaking his head. Fletcher looked into his mug as he mulled over what his dad had just said. 

\---

An hour later, they were on their way to the mall. Arin noticed Fletcher seemed to be nervous again. "Hey, everything is going to be fine." Arin attempted to reassure his son. Fletcher shrugged. 

"I'm just worried someone will say something. I know this isn't... normal." Fletcher was staring out the window as he spoke. 

"Have you seen our family? Who among us is normal? Your aunt Suzy plays with dead bugs for a living. Your Abba and I play video games for a living. He gets paid to dress in spandex and dance around in front of thousands of strangers. We don't live normal lives. That would be boring." Arin encouraged with a laugh. "Besides; if anyone says anything I'll body slam them." That made Fletcher laugh. 

"I thought body slamming was Abba's thing." Fletcher said with a smile. 

"Yeah well, when you've been married as long as we have, you pick up some things from each other." Arin turned on the CD changed to discover Under the Covers had been left in. He cranked it up and he and his son started singing along. 

\---

"What about this one?" Arin pulled a tea length floral dress from the rack. Fletcher looked it over before smiling. 

"Yeah I'll try it!" He said excitedly. Arin added it to their ever growing pile of dresses and skirts. 

"What do you mean you'll try it? Boys don't wear dresses." A gruff voice said from behind them. They turned around to see a man a head shorter than Arin with his arms folded across his chest. Arin instinctively stepped between Fletcher and the stranger. 

"Hey back off man. This is none of your business." Arin said firmly. He copied the mans posture and folded his arms across his chest. The man scoffed. 

"You're forcing your own agenda on your son. People like you are ruining this country, trying to force homosexuality down everybody's throat." The man took a step foreword. Arin moved his hands to his sides, his hands clenched into fists. He stepped closer to the man, using his height and size to his advantage. He didn't like to intimidate people, but he would do anything to protect his kids. 

"Back off." Arin growled at the man. 

"What are you gonna do?" The man narrowed his eyes, challenging Arin. 

"Sir?" A female voice coming from the side got the attention of the two men. A woman was standing there, looking annoyed. Her name tag informed them she was the manager. "Sir you need to leave. These nice folks were just trying to shop. If you don't exit my store; I'm going to call security and have you removed." She was staring pointedly at the man. He looked like he was going to argue before he just scoffed again and stalked off, muttering indignantly. Arin flashed a grateful smile at the woman. 

"Thank you ma'am." He said with a nod. She smiled brightly at him and left without another word. 

When Arin turned back around, he saw Fletch slowly putting items back where they came from. "Woah Fletcher; what are you doing?" He asked. He reached forward and took the skirt Fletcher was holding from his hands and put it back in the cart. He looked at his son, and noticed silent tears streaking down his face. Arin stepped foreword and pulled his son into a tight embrace. "Hey everything is ok. You're ok." 

"I thought he was gonna hit you. I don't want to do this, it's not worth you getting into fights." Fletcher said into Arin's chest. Arin hushed him. 

"Your old man can take a hit from some dude. And if this is going to make you happy, it is completely worth it. There will always be assholes, no matter what you do or where you go. I get people criticizing me every day. You just have to let it roll off your back. Come on; let's try on these clothes, and then we'll get some food. Ok?" Arin held his son as long as he needed before answering. Finally Fletcher stepped back and nodded. 

"Yeah ok Dad. Thank you." Fletcher smiled and wiped the tears off his face. 

\---

Arin sat across from Fletcher at a booth in a sushi restaurant near the mall. Fletcher was moving his food around, but not actually eating it. Another thing he seemed to have picked up from Dan. "You ok? You're not eating." Arin asked, brows furrowed in concern. 

"When did you know you liked boys?" Fletcher suddenly blurted. 

"Well let's see. Right after I tried dating your Aunt Suzy." Fletcher's eyes widened. 

"You dated Aunt Suzy?" Fletcher was shocked. Arin laughed at his son's reaction. 

"Oh yeah. We dated. Way back when we first met in high school. We lasted about two months; and then I realized I was gay and we became best friends instead." Arin explained. Fletcher still looked surprised. "Do you think you might like boys?" Arin asked, more seriously. Fletcher shrunk back a little. 

"I think I might. There's this boy in my class... his name is Ryder. He's really cute and he always makes me laugh." Fletcher was speaking more to his plate of sushi than to Arin. "But everyone says I'm too young to know if I like boys or not.." Arin scoffed at that. 

"You're not too young. You know yourself better than anyone else. If you like this Ryder boy you should go for it. You know Abba and I will support you no matter what. You wanna date boys? Great. Girls? Also great. Don't wanna date at all? Have fun. We don't care. We love you all the same." Arin smiled at his son. Fletcher grinned at Arin's words. 

"Ok, maybe I will go for it. Thank you Dad. I love you." 

"I love you too Fletcher. Always."

\---

"Hey Dad?" Fletcher turned in his seat to face his dad as much as possible. They were driving home from the mall, full of good sushi, their shopping bags piled in the back. 

"Yeah bud?" Arin glanced briefly at his son. 

"Can I get a streak in my hair? Like yours." Fletcher gestured to Arin's hair. Arin lit up. 

"Of course! Do you want a blonde streak?" Arin was beaming. He was so happy his son wanted to be like him. 

"Can I get a red streak?" Fletcher asked. Arin nodded quickly. He took a right and found the nearest Walgreens. He ran inside and picked up bleach and red hair dye. 

"We'll get Suzy and Holly to dye it for you." Arin explained as he climbed back into the car. 

They returned home, and Fletcher went to put his new clothes away while Arin went to find Suzy. 

\---

"And done!" Suzy exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She handed Fletcher a hand mirror to check out his hair. He smiled wide and ran his fingers over his new red streak, in the same place as his Dad's blonde one. He got up and hugged Suzy. 

"Thank you so much Aunt Suzy." He said, beaming. Arin smiled at his son. 

"It looks awesome. We should go show Abba." Arin said. Fletcher nodded. They said their goodbyes to Suzy and walked through the house down to Dan's studio. Fletcher waited outside the studio door while Arin poked his head inside. "Hey babe?" Dan looked up from where he and Brian were looking over NSP things. Dan smiled. 

"Yeah Ar? What's up?" Dan tilted his head to the side. Instead of answering, Arin opened the door further and stepped aside, letting Fletcher step all the way into the studio. Dan jumped up, grinning. "Wow! Fletcher your hair looks awesome!" Brain nodded his agreement. 

"Thanks Abba, I'm glad you like it." Fletcher smiled wide at Dan. Dan stepped foreword and hugged his son tight. "Ok, Abba, no need to get all sappy. It's just hair." Fletcher laughed. Dan let go and wiped at his eyes. Arin shook his head fondly at his over emotional husband. 

"You just look so much like your Dad like that and it makes me happy!" Dan defended himself. Arin and Fletcher let Dan return to what he was working on and went back upstairs. 

Arin's heart swelled when he noticed how right Dan was. With his long hair and his new streak, Fletcher did look a lot like Arin. He knew that Fletcher wasn't his biological son, but he loved him so much nonetheless. He was so proud to see Fletch come into his own and become who he was meant to be. Dan was working on Fletcher's singing with him, helping him follow his dreams and Arin was helping him dress how he wanted. He was growing every day, and Arin was beyond happy that Fletcher and Abby were in his life, were his kids. His pride and joy.


End file.
